Research Article


DOI :10.26650/SJ.2019.39.1.0007   IUP :10.26650/SJ.2019.39.1.0007    Full Text (PDF)

Tradition, Morality and Solidarity in Durkheim’s Theory

Alexander Gofman

This article examines Durkheim’s approach to the interrelationship of tradition, morality and solidarity. One of its basic claims is that Durkheim was an epistemological and methodological rationalist, but not an ontological one. It means that he grounded rational and scientific knowledge about social reality, which itself, to his mind, is not rational. It concerns directly his treatment of tradition, morality and social solidarity. In spite of all Durkheim’s statements about the decline of traditionalism in contemporary societies, he affirmed sometimes that traditional behaviour in general is almost identical to a moral one. We can see it namely in his reasoning about the close affinity and nearly identical character between “collective habits” and true morality. In industrial societies, according to him, two types of traditions coexist, namely old, “traditional” traditions inherited from the past on the one hand, and new, “rational” traditions, on the other hand. His statements about the alternation of historical periods dominated by traditions and ideals contains a kind of sketch on the philosophy of history, partly explaining the phenomena of time compression and time distension in different periods of social development. Durkheimian theory may be interpreted as a fruitful contribution to the present-day understanding of the processes of modernization. 


PDF View

References

  • Besnard, P. (1987). L’Anomie. Ses usages et ses fonctions dans la discipline sociologique depuis Durkheim. Paris : PUF. google scholar
  • Durkheim, E. (1951). Suicide. A study in sociology (J. A. Spaulding & G. Simpson, Trans.). Glencoe (Ill.): The Free Press. google scholar
  • Durkheim, E. (1965). Sociology and philosophy (D. F. Pocock, Trans.). London: Cohen &West. google scholar
  • Durkheim, É. (1975). La sociologie et son domaine scientifique (1900). In V. Karady (Prés.), Émile Durkheim. Textes 1. Éléments d’une théorie sociale. Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit. google scholar
  • Durkheim, E. (1979a). Introduction to ethics. In W. S. F. Pickering (Ed.), Durkheim: Essays on morals and education (H. L. Sutcliffe, Trans., pp. 77–96). London, Boston and Henley: Routledge & Kegan Paul. google scholar
  • Durkheim, E. (1979b). A discussion on the notion of social equality. In W. S. F. Pickering (Ed.), Durkheim: Essays on morals and education. London, Boston and Henley: Routledge & Kegan Paul. google scholar
  • Durkheim, E. (1992). The rules of sociological method and selected texts on sociology and its method (W. D. Halls, Trans.). Houndmills, Basingstoke and London: The Macmillan Press Ltd. google scholar
  • Durkheim, E. (1995). The elementary forms of religious life (K. E. Fields, Trans.). New York & London: The Free Press. google scholar
  • Durkheim, E. (1997). The division of labor in society (W. D. Halls, Trans.). New York: The Free Press. google scholar
  • Durkheim, É. (2012). L’éducation morale. Paris: Quadrige / PUF. Durkheim, É. (2015). Leçons de sociologie. Paris: Quadrige / PUF. google scholar
  • Fish, J. (2005). Defending the Durkheimian tradition. Religion, emotion and morality. Aldershot; Burlington: Ashgate. google scholar
  • Gofman, A. (2014). Chapter 3. Durkheim’s theory of social solidarity and social rules. In V. Jeffries (Ed.), The Palgrave handbook of altruism, morality, and social solidarity: Formulating a field of study (pp. 45–70). New York: Palgrave MacMillan. google scholar
  • Gofman, A. (2015). Teorii traditsii v sotsiologuicheskoy traditsii [Theories of Tradition in Sociological Tradition]. In A. Gofman, Tradition, solidarity and sociological theory. Selected Texts. Moscow: Noviy Khronogfaf. google scholar
  • Joas, H. (1996). The creativity of action (J. Gaines & P. Keast, Trans.). Cambridge: Polity Press; Blackwell Publishers Ltd. google scholar
  • La Question religieuse. Enquête internationale. (1907). Mercure de France, T.67. N237. 1er Mai. google scholar
  • Lenin. (1976). The tasks of the youth leagues. Speech delivered at the third all-Russia congress of the Russian Young Communist League. Moscow: Progress Publishers. Parsons, T. (1949). The structure of social action. Glencoe: The Free Press. google scholar
  • Turner, S. (Ed.). (1993). Emile Durkheim: Sociologist and moralist. London: Routledge. google scholar
  • Wallwork, E. (1972). Durkheim, morality and milieu. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. google scholar
  • Watts-Miller, W. (1996). Durkheim, morals and modernity. London: UCL Press. Weber, M. (1991). Science as a vocation. In H. H. Gerth & C. Wright-Mills (Eds., Trans.). From Max Weber. Essays in sociology. London: Routledge. google scholar

Citations

Copy and paste a formatted citation or use one of the options to export in your chosen format


EXPORT



APA

Gofman, A. (0001). Tradition, Morality and Solidarity in Durkheim’s Theory. İstanbul University Journal of Sociology, 39(1), 25-39. https://doi.org/10.26650/SJ.2019.39.1.0007


AMA

Gofman A. Tradition, Morality and Solidarity in Durkheim’s Theory. İstanbul University Journal of Sociology. 0001;39(1):25-39. https://doi.org/10.26650/SJ.2019.39.1.0007


ABNT

Gofman, A. Tradition, Morality and Solidarity in Durkheim’s Theory. İstanbul University Journal of Sociology, [Publisher Location], v. 39, n. 1, p. 25-39, 0001.


Chicago: Author-Date Style

Gofman, Alexander,. 0001. “Tradition, Morality and Solidarity in Durkheim’s Theory.” İstanbul University Journal of Sociology 39, no. 1: 25-39. https://doi.org/10.26650/SJ.2019.39.1.0007


Chicago: Humanities Style

Gofman, Alexander,. Tradition, Morality and Solidarity in Durkheim’s Theory.” İstanbul University Journal of Sociology 39, no. 1 (Nov. 2024): 25-39. https://doi.org/10.26650/SJ.2019.39.1.0007


Harvard: Australian Style

Gofman, A 0001, 'Tradition, Morality and Solidarity in Durkheim’s Theory', İstanbul University Journal of Sociology, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 25-39, viewed 22 Nov. 2024, https://doi.org/10.26650/SJ.2019.39.1.0007


Harvard: Author-Date Style

Gofman, A. (0001) ‘Tradition, Morality and Solidarity in Durkheim’s Theory’, İstanbul University Journal of Sociology, 39(1), pp. 25-39. https://doi.org/10.26650/SJ.2019.39.1.0007 (22 Nov. 2024).


MLA

Gofman, Alexander,. Tradition, Morality and Solidarity in Durkheim’s Theory.” İstanbul University Journal of Sociology, vol. 39, no. 1, 0001, pp. 25-39. [Database Container], https://doi.org/10.26650/SJ.2019.39.1.0007


Vancouver

Gofman A. Tradition, Morality and Solidarity in Durkheim’s Theory. İstanbul University Journal of Sociology [Internet]. 22 Nov. 2024 [cited 22 Nov. 2024];39(1):25-39. Available from: https://doi.org/10.26650/SJ.2019.39.1.0007 doi: 10.26650/SJ.2019.39.1.0007


ISNAD

Gofman, Alexander. Tradition, Morality and Solidarity in Durkheim’s Theory”. İstanbul University Journal of Sociology 39/1 (Nov. 2024): 25-39. https://doi.org/10.26650/SJ.2019.39.1.0007



TIMELINE


Submitted27.04.2018
Last Revision07.09.2018
Accepted20.10.2018

LICENCE


Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.


SHARE




Istanbul University Press aims to contribute to the dissemination of ever growing scientific knowledge through publication of high quality scientific journals and books in accordance with the international publishing standards and ethics. Istanbul University Press follows an open access, non-commercial, scholarly publishing.